The 2020 end of year music lists thread

It made the Wire list

Glad to hear both those facts : )

I liked it a lot as well. I only spent one session with it so far, but I was very impressed by it.

Well-made and interesting but the palette was far too slate-grey and brooding to really sustain my interest. There's loads of stuff out there like this now

Please point me to the "loads" of music that is as intricate, intense, spatial, psychedelic, emotional, crafted as 'BLQLYTE'. Seriously.

Bandcamp - The Year's Essential Releases
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-of-2020/best-of-2020-the-years-essential-releases

Love that Okkyung Lee album. I can't remember if I posted about it in the contemporary 'classical' thread, or got scared off by the fact that I don't actually know anything about contemporary classical.

xps I've been listening to Zeroh a lot this week (I'm listening to only albums with monochrome/grayscale/B&W covers, to make the EOY deluge manageable). My initial impressions were pretty close to imago's but it's really opened up on subsequent listens!

Other great albums that my monochrome listening strategy has lead me to: Daniel Romano's How Ill Thy World Is Ordered, Photay's Waking Hours, Keeley Forsyth's Debris, Lianne La Havas's self-titled, and that Kelly Lee Owens album that everyone else but me already realized was incredible.

(Fun/weird fish fact: LLH and KLO both cover the same Radiohead song!)

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/big-thiefs-buck-meek-tells-us-about-his-top-10-swimming-holes-of-2020/

It always makes me sad to hear people say they’re avoiding the rolling classical threads because of the genre’s forbidding reputation. C’mon, this is ILM, we can shitpost about whatever music we want, nothing is off-limits! And I can’t think of a gentler place to discuss this stuff on the internet...

So please pop in and chat about Okkyung Lee (whose album I enjoyed btw, and I know that at least one other ILMer is a fan).

(xps to bernard snowy)

Okkyung Lee is one of my favourites of the year, for certain.

I haven't heard that particular Okkyung Lee record, but I like several other records of hers that I have heard, and I got to see her perform with Cecil Taylor at one of his final public appearances, maybe his final public appearance, at the Whitney Museum in 2016.

i love the okkyung lee record! not really that familiar with the rest of her stuff so i'm not really sure where this fits in. the only other one that i heard was a lot more dissonant, was surprised how light and airy this one was. beautifully recorded too. reminded me a bit of rachel's' 'music for egon schiele' iirc?

anyhow...

Guitar World - The 20 best guitar albums of 2020
https://www.guitarworld.com/features/the-20-best-guitar-albums-of-2020

20. Larkin Poe – Self Made Man
19. Covet – Technicolor
18. Mr. Bungle – The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo
17. Deftones – Ohms
16. Al Joseph – Labyrinth
15. Sons of Apollo – MMXX
14. Pearl Jam – Gigaton
13. Testament – Titans of Creation
12. Lamb of God – Lamb of God
11. Richie Kotzen – 50 for 50
10. Marty Friedman – Tokyo Jukebox 3
9. Intervals – Circadian
8. Ozzy Osbourne – Ordinary Man
7. Trivium – What the Dead Men Say
6. Joe Satriani - Shapeshifting
5. Plini - Impulse Voices
4. AC/DC - Power Up
3. John Petrucci - Terminal Velocity
2. Andy James - C.S.I.L
1. Kiko Loureiro - Open Source

anyone want to rep for any of those? kind of tempted to check out the covet record...

The Deftones record rules and the Pearl Jam record is one of their stronger latter day records, but beyond that I can't say I've heard anything, totally spaced on checking out that new Testament record.

Wait, I did hear that Sons of Apollo record, it's not good at all. But I don't imagine a "supergroup" with Mike Portnoy and Bumblefoot is going to get much ilm traction anyway.

Had to google Bumblefoot, doesn't sound good tbh!

Bumblefoot, or plantar pododermatitis, is caused by introduction of staphylococcus bacteria and is found on the toes, hocks and pads of a chicken's foot. It is characterized by a pus-filled abscess that is covered by a black scab and is paired with lameness, swelling, and the infected bird's reluctance to walk

A friend linked that Plini album to me a few weeks ago and I've listened a few times. I considered nominating it for the heavy albums poll, but I wouldn't have voted for it. It's a good vibes album, though.

After thinking about the Plini more... My first reaction when I heard it is that I didn't know people were still making that kind of music. The guitar ton and style reminds me of 80s Satriani and/or Steve Vai, and the vibe like the music Wyld Stallyns want to make in the first Bill & Ted movie. The production is immaculate. My friend said it was "Steve Wilson-esque". I had to Google him.

The Trivium and AC/DC records are both good. I may be the only person on ILX who likes Trivium.

Here are some of my favorite songs of the year. As usual, I had some valuable consultation from our family music guru, Sasha, to put this together. I hope you find a new song or two to listen to. pic.twitter.com/K1NRPYiSg4

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 19, 2020

this is unusually good for one of these. kind of stunned that sault isn't on there but lido pimienta is

lido now easily the most famous person I have ever purchased a frozen dessert for

v sad to learn that little simz is neoliberalism

this list is pretty good :)

https://www.kexp.org/read/2020/12/16/2020-top-ten-list-spotlight-reverend-dollars/

nice, will check out yr top 3

(backxwash and brandy i already know + love)

didn't know you were rev, EM! I love (and am occasionally repping for) the Miyamoto is Black Enough Album. You're also the only other person i'm seeing big upping the Bbymutha, which is very good.

and Tiwa Savage’s Celia!

yeah, love that one too

didnt know extended mix was rev

love the irreversible entanglements

ok the Miyamoto Is Black Enough album is pretty sick

pretty incredible actually

Moor Jewelry really good, now KeiyaA is sounding exceptional too

not mentioned on here much except to compare it to sault

it is absolutely nothing like sault lol, it is much closer to personal favourite l'rain

keiyaa record is really excellent, was hoping you'd dig it lj

:) it is completely my thing yeah

it owns

xp The Mr. Bungle album is sick

The Graun's jazz top 10 link

I'm particularly curious about their number one, that I've not heard of before. (I did catch her in the 'Last Five Years' Bowie doc that was released some time ago)

Genuinely impressed by how quickly keyiaa has catapulted to the top of critical acclaim, I love it but it felt pretty niche, I thought she’d really go on the next project but it’s moving fast

Cool to see

Guardian jazz list is interesting. Several things on there I like a lot (Metheny, Redman, Rollins, the Blue Note compilation, Bley, Schneider). I do think if you're only listing 10 albums you shouldn't include one that's just a reissue of one of the best-known albums in the history of jazz, though.

Maria Schneider's music is tough to get hold of. She doesn't release it to streaming services; you have to pretty much buy it directly from her. But Data Lords is my favorite thing I've heard by her, by a sizable margin. Worth seeking out.

Thanks unperson. Saw that she only made available a single track from the album on spotify, which is fair enough of course. No really a way to hear it before purchase. But based on that, what I've read and your comments backing that up I'll bite.

Top 100 metal albums of 2020 courtesy of Grizzly Butts:

https://grizzlybutts.com/2020/12/21/the-top-100-albums-of-the-year-2020/

Resident Advisor - 2020's Best Albums
https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3787

Various - HOA 10-12
Slikback - /// + ///II
KMRU - Peel + opaquer
Ulla - Tumbling Towards A Wall
E.M.M.A. - Indigo Dream
Theo Parrish - Wuddaji
BOOF - Rebirth Of Gerberdaisy
Beatrice Dillon - Workaround
Various - Physically Sick 3
Ana Roxanne - Because Of A Flower
Jonnine - Blue Hills
Moodymann - Taken Away
Yves Tumor - Heaven To A Tortured Mind
Shinichi Atobe - Yes
Actress - Karma & Desire
Duval Timothy - Help
Yaeji - What We Drew 우리가 그려왔던
Jasmine Infiniti - BXTCH SLÄP
Headie One - Edna
RA Album of the Year: DJ Python - Mas Amable

Yaeji record v. good

Electronic Sound:

30. Hilary Woods - Birthmarks
29. Rival Consoles - Articulation
28. Andy Bell - The View from Halfway Down
27. Gaudi - 100 Years of Theremin (The Dub Chapter)
26. Doug McKechnie - San Francisco Moog 1968-72
25. Nyx Nótt - Aux Pieds de la Nuit
24. Sink Ya Teeth - Two
23. Scissorgun - All You Love is Need
22. Belbury Poly - The Gone Away
21. Benge - Thirteen Systems
20. Luke Vibert - Amen Andrews / Modern Rave / Rave Hop
19. Max Richter - Voices
18. Black Devil Disco Club - Lucifer is a Flower
17. Ben Lucas Boysen - Mirage
16. Katie Gately - Loom
15. JARV IS... - Beyond the Pale
14. Luke Abbott - Translate
13. Blancmange - Mindset
12. ACR - ACR Loco
11. Róisín Murphy - Róisín Machine
10. Kl(aüs) - Kl(aüs) 2
9. Roger Eno & Brian Eno - Mixing Colours
8. Polly Scattergood - In This Moment
7. The Orb - Abolition of the Royal Familia
6. Soulwax - EMS Synthi 100: DEEWEE Sessions Vol 01
5. Polypores - Azure / Flora
4. Cabaret Voltaire - Shadow of Fear
3. Working Men's Club - Working Men's Club
2. John Foxx and the Maths - Howl
1. Kelly Lee Owens - Inner Song

Katie Gately should be on more lists.